In plane shear and bending for first gradient inextesible pantographic sheets: numerical study of deformed shapes and global constraint reactions

The aim of the present paper is the analysis of a two-dimensional continuum with two families of inextensible fibers that are orthogonal in the initial configuration. In the first part of the work, a new formulation is presented, in which the problem is reduced to a standard nonlinear constrained minimization, while in the second part of the work several numerical investigations are presented considering different boundary conditions with respect to standard symmetric bias extensional tests. The conceptual framework can be recognized in the researches by Pipkin and Rivlin on inextensible nets. Furthermore, an implicit version of the Rivlin representation of the generic placement for a two-dimensional sheet with two families of inextensible fibers is provided by considering the angles of the fiber directors as degrees of the freedom of the formulation. In this way the first gradient formulation is given in terms of two angle fields only